Central bank decisions in Europe… Wholesale price data (paywall), the weakened euro, and Mario Draghi’s big hint at Jackson Hole have all signaled that the European Central Bank could be close to adopting Fed-style asset-purchasing. At the Bank of England, a divide among policymakers last month brought rate hikes to center stage, but rates are expected to hold, for now.

…and in Japan. Inflation data are roughly in line with the central bank’s projections for reaching the 2% target, so governor Haruhiko Kuroda isn’t likely to announce an expansion of stimulus measures.

While you were sleeping

New cash cushions for US banks. Regulators adopted rules requiring large banks to keep enough cash—or liquid assets, like government bonds, that can quickly be turned into cash—to survive a funding squeeze. The devil is in the details, namely what kinds of assets will officially count as liquid enough.

France finally stood up to Russia… The French government suspended its €1.1 billion ($1.5 billion) deal to sell Russia two warships, in the face of growing pressure from its allies. That’ll be painful to French industry, but could win France a break from being scolded by Germany for fiscal imprudence.

French luxury giants called it quits. LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton will give up its $7.5 billion stake in Hermes, which it acquired stealthily by buying derivatives from several banks, after a French court intervened to end a four-year legal battle. The 23% holding will be distributed to LVMH’s shareholders.

Samsung branched out. The world’s top smartphone maker unveiled a strange new gadget with a curved screen. It also revealed its latest Galaxy Note phablet. Don’t laugh, though: Research firm IDC predicted worldwide phablet shipments will overtake laptops this year and tablets next year.

CVS quit smoking. All of the US drugstore chain’s 7,700 locations went tobacco-free, a month earlier than planned. The chain is sacrificing $1.5 billion in annual tobacco sales, and has changed its corporate name from CVS Caremark to CVS Health, in an attempt to look more, well, healthy.

Steve LeVine on how Israel is using a gas deal to mend ties with its neighbors. “Israel’s surprising wealth of natural gas—the Tamar and Leviathan fields, together containing the gas equivalent of about 4 billion barrels of oil—was planned for transportation by pipeline or tanker to Europe through Turkey, which could have helped in the current European standoff against Russia. But Israel’s relations with Turkey have deteriorated, putting that plan on the back burner, at least for now. Instead, they will go in large part to Jordan, Egypt and the Palestinian Authority.” Read more here.

Matters of debate

Small victories against the Islamic State are bigger than you think. Advances in Amerli and Tikrit represent “strategic, political, and psychological gains.”